|
GOLDEN YEARS
Our time is not about money. It can never be reduced to money. It is the
dimension within which money is created and used. Our time is about life--or, at least, the essence of living.
We cannot give away our minutes. We cannot borrow minutes from a friend. We cannot steal minutes. Money is nothing more than a mere
medium of exchange. Our time, on the other hand, is neither a medium nor exchangeable. It is the inmost stuff of life itself.
The solution of the personal money question lies neither in saving nor in
not saving; the true solution is to forget money utterly and to concentrate all one's thought and energy upon the wise spending of time, upon that
chosen work which seems interesting and important regardless of reward. If the spending of time is handled with common sense, the smaller problem--the money question--which is inescapably involved in it,
will be settled at the same moment. Anyone can save up his or her dollars, but the wisest of men cannot save up opportunities--they must be used as they come.
Most of us as Americans still lack a philosophy of life that fits our place
and time. Rather, we tend to cling to the faded shreds of a pioneer outlook involving harsh toil, ceaseless striving, overshrewdness, animal
cunning, and crude piety all blending badly together. We have too much concern with man and his jobs until we grow weary of it. The art of living
seldom centers on the job. For most of us, jobs aren't life. They're only a tiny phase of it. Versatility in the art of living requires the skill and
experience that comes with maturity and the perspective of the golden years. We all change from year to year. We cannot move long on one
level. We all crave variety--- and the most exciting variety comes only with a stiff dose of the unexpected. Adventure cannot be melted down to
some formula. As long as life remains largely a gamble, how hopeless the dream of laying out a neat plan, even for a few years down the road.
The measure of a man is his sense of time. In this awareness of time
enter many factors, such as great expectations, impatience, urge, as well as perspective (that comes only through experiences). The child's
universe is bound only by the moment's craving. The mature man sees his ambitions as an episode in a generation.
The basis of effective thinking most of the time is based upon the delay
in responding, nearly impossible within the narrowed perspective of any ferocious libido to stop, look, listen --- nevertheless, this is the beginning of much of our wisdom.
|
